In a sigh of relief for Indian kabaddi players, International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) is set to lift suspension imposed on the country’s national federation next month. The decision was made after the court-appointed administrator handed over the charge to the ‘elected body’.
International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) President Vinod Kumar Tiwari told reporters that the ban will be lifted after an executive council meeting scheduled next month.
The IKF had suspended the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) in July last year after the ‘elected body’ was not allowed to take charge.
“The court-appointed administrator has handed over the charge to the AKFI office bearers who were elected in December 2023. The AKFI office bearers have started functioning from AKFI office at JLN Stadium,” Tiwari said in an interview.
“So, the ban on AKFI will be lifted. We will have our executive board meeting (of the IKF) next month and the ban will be officially lifted.”
In a February 6 order, India’s Supreme Court had asked Justice (Retd.) S P Garg, the AKFI administrator, to hand over control of the federation to the office bearers elected in December 2023.
The SC division bench said that while it hadn’t recognised the elected body of the federation yet, it was passing the order to allow participation of Indian players in the senior Asian Kabaddi Championship-2025 scheduled in Iran from February 20 to 25.
The top court passed the order after two national Kabaddi players — Priyanka and Pooja — sought direction to AKFI for sending them to Asian Kabaddi Championship in Iran.
Tiwari said the IKF had already allowed the Indian players’ participation in the Asian Championships.
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The world governing body of the sport is planning to begin leagues in Qatar and Thailand this year to spread the sport with an aim to include it in the Olympics in future.
“Wherever there are Indians, kabaddi is popular. But we are trying to spread the sport to other countries and areas. That is important to popularise the sport if we have to take it to the Olympics”, he said.
India recently won the Kabaddi World Cup 2025 titles in both men’s and women’s competition.
